This invention relates to television program guide systems, and more particularly, to television program guide systems in which promotional information is displayed in addition to program guide listings.
A large number of television channels are available over cable and satellite television systems. Television viewers have traditionally consulted preprinted television program listings to determine which programs were scheduled to be broadcast on a particular day. More recently, television-based program guides have been developed that allow television viewers to view television program listings directly on their television sets.
For example, the Prevue.RTM. channel is a scrolling television program guide that a cable system operator may make available to subscribers over a dedicated television channel. Viewers can tune to the appropriate television channel to view program listings for television programs that are currently being broadcast and that are scheduled to be broadcast in the next few hours.
The lower half of the Prevue.RTM. channel display is occupied by a continuously scrolling series of television program listings. The upper half of the Prevue.RTM. channel display screen is used to display quarter-screen promotional videos with accompanying text. Nationally distributed advertisements are displayed in the upper half of the display in place of the quarter-screen promotional videos according to a prearranged schedule. In addition, cable system operators may insert local video advertisements and graphics in the upper half of the display.
Video advertisements are typically centered in the upper half of the display. Advertisers generally prefer that the advertisements be wider than a typical quarter screen video, because this increases the visual impact of the advertisement. Because normal aspect ratio videos that are larger than a quarter screen will not fit into the upper half region, advertising videos must be matted on the left and right, vertically compressed using video processing equipment, or truncated at the top or bottom. It is sometimes possible to use a combination of such approaches.
However, truncation is generally undesirable, because important portions of the video image may be lost. Using video processing equipment to compress a video adds expense and complexity to the process of displaying the video. Moreover, overly compressed videos have an unnatural appearance, because everything in the video appears wider than normal.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a television program guide system that allows normal aspect ratio videos that are larger than a quarter screen to be displayed on a television program guide channel simultaneously with program listings.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a television program guide system in which the relative sizes of the regions used for promotional information and program listings can be adjusted in real time.